SpaceX Falcon Heavy: 'Holy flying f***', Elon Musk cries in behind-the-scenes clip of his stunned reaction to rocket launch

Elon Musk looks on as Falcon Heavy launches into space
National Geographic
Patrick Grafton-Green12 February 2018

Previously unseen footage has emerged showing Elon Musk’s stunned reaction to the launch of Space X’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

A camera crew from National Geographic went behind-the-scenes to follow Musk and his team on the day of the launch of the world's most powerful rocket.

They captured the reaction of the billionaire business magnate and SpaceX owner during the countdown, before he proclaimed "holy flying f***, that thing took off" as it blasted into space.

Within seconds, he raced out the door of the launch control centre and shielded his eyes as he stared up at the sky.

He and staffers then pointed up as Musk called out: “Look at that! That's unreal."

The footage was filmed for the second season of MARS, which is returning to National Geographic later this year.

SpaceX Falcon launch - In pictures

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Falcon Heavy - the world's most powerful rocket - made history last week as it blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in front of cheering crowds.

It was fitted with a camera that allowed the public to watch a live stream of its journey through space from earth.

Amazing footage showed Musk’s cherry red Tesla roadster - which is attached - pass Earth during its mission to Mars.

Despite the rocket missing its Mars orbit and shooting off towards an asteroid field, Musk urged other rocket companies to join him in a “new space race” as he boasted of his latest mission using the biggest and most powerful rocket ever to leave Earth.

And he has now said the timeline for reaching the Red Planet has been brought forward as he laid out plans to test a new even bigger "beast" rocket next year.

The mammoth launch sparked some criticism with Flat Earth conspiracy theorists claiming it was faked.

While, former NASA deputy director Lori Garver branded the historic moment a “gimmick”.

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